Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the quality of maternity care for women from Black and Asian backgrounds.

It is unacceptable that there are inequalities for women and babies. It is a priority for the Government to make sure that all women and babies receive the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of their background, location, or ethnicity.

NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. A central component of this is action to tackle and reduce inequalities, to deliver consistency in access, experiences, and outcomes. Through this plan, all local areas now have Equity and Equality Action Plans in place, which set out tailored interventions that tackle inequalities for women and babies from ethnic backgrounds and those living in the most deprived areas. All trusts are also now implementing Version 3 of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, which provides maternity units with guidance and interventions to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth. It also includes initiatives to tackle factors that also drive worst outcomes, for example reducing smoking in pregnancy.

However, further action is needed, and ministers in the Department are working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify the right actions and interventions that will deliver the required change. Part of this will be setting an explicit target to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap and drive the change we need to see.